Through the years, the development of hand operated controls for various appliances including automobiles have occurred for paraplegics. Typical of the developments of this art are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,850,048; 3,192,794 and 3,065,647. Other apparatus likewise have been modified to allow use by paraplegics.
One device which is particularly desirable for use by paraplegics is the piano since it requires principally hand action. To this date, to the knowledge of the applicant, no one, however, has ever developed an attachment which would allow a paraplegic to operate the sustain pedal of the piano. Being unable to operate the sustain pedal, a paraplegic could not achieve the sustain effect which is essential to any other than elementary playing of the piano.
Sustain operation by use of the hands is not possible in the case of pianos since the hands and fingers are constantly in use, and abnormal hand movements would destroy the beauty of the work being played. Extension attachments to allow a small child to operate the sustain pedal have been developed as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,812,716.